Off the high
Are Buzzed Drivers Really the Problem: A Quasi-Experimental Multilevel Assessment of the Involvement of Drivers With Low Blood Alcohol Levels in Fatal Crashes
Richard Stringer
Criminal Justice Policy Review, June 2018, Pages 464-488
Abstract:
Controversy over drivers with low blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) have become a highly salient issue since the proposal to reduce the per se BAC limit to .05 for driving under the influence (DUI) convictions. However, little traffic safety, and no criminological research, has examined this phenomenon. This study fills a deficiency in the literature by utilizing quasi-experimental propensity score matching techniques in combination with multilevel modeling to examine the extent of involvement of low BAC drivers in fatal crashes. The results indicate that low BAC drivers are only involved in a very small portion of crashes and are not at fault in many. In addition, although drivers with low BAC have an increased odds of responsibility for a crash than drivers with no BAC, this increase is much lower than other factors such as age, speed, distractions, drug use, and high BAC. This study discusses the implications of focusing resources on drivers that are not considerable contributors to crashes, such as a predicted increase in arrests.
Rank, Sex, Drugs, and Crime
Benjamin Elsner & Ingo Isphording
Journal of Human Resources, Spring 2018, Pages 356-381
Abstract:
We show that a student’s ordinal ability rank in a high-school cohort is an important determinant of engaging in risky behaviors. Using longitudinal data from representative U.S. high schools, we find a strong negative effect of rank on the likelihood of smoking, drinking, having unprotected sex, and engaging in physical fights. We further provide evidence that these results can be explained by sorting into peer groups and differences in career expectations. Students with a higher rank are less likely to be friends with other students who smoke and drink, while they have higher expectations towards their future educational attainment.
Beer for “brohood”: A laboratory simulation of masculinity confirmation through alcohol use behaviors in men
Jessica Fugitt & Lindsay Ham
Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, May 2018, Pages 358-364
Abstract:
Though alcohol use is a widespread behavior, men tend to drink more and experience more alcohol-related negative consequences than do women. Research suggests that individuals are motivated to maintain ingroup status by engaging in behaviors prototypical of the ingroup when group status has been threatened, and that men are particularly likely to do this when masculine ingroup status is threatened. The present study investigated masculine drinking behaviors through a social lens, examining the impact of masculinity threat on alcohol consumption in a simulated bar laboratory. Sixty-five male students ages 21-29 years (Mage = 22.66; 74% White) consumed beer in a taste-test paradigm after being exposed to randomly assigned personality feedback relative to gender standards. This feedback suggested that they were either low in masculinity (threat condition, n = 22) or high in masculinity (control condition, n = 22). A third condition received the low-masculinity feedback and then were exposed to information to undermine masculine alcohol use norms (undermine condition, n = 21) to account for negative affect reduction motives for use. As hypothesized, individuals in the threat condition consumed significantly more alcohol than those in the control and undermine conditions, even though the threat and undermine conditions reported similar levels of negative affect following masculinity threat. These results suggest that consumption of alcohol by men in social contexts may be strongly motivated by the desire to confirm masculine status. This understanding may be used to enhance the effectiveness of alcohol use intervention protocols.
Mary Jane Rocks the Vote: The Impact of Climate Context on Support for Cannabis Initiatives
Regina Branton & Ronald McGauvran
Politics & Policy, April 2018, Pages 209-232
Abstract:
Recent research on direct democracy has focused on the spatial component of voter decision making, finding that when the benefits from a proposed initiative are geographically dependent, support for the initiative in that area increases. However, the existing research has yet to fully specify the factors that lead to benefits for geographically adjacent individuals. Using a unique wave of direct democracy initiatives, and developing a new measure for “climate context,” we test the link between climates favorable for cultivation and the support for the legalization of recreational cannabis. Employing spatial regression analysis and geographically specific voting data for ballot measures in Arizona, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Washington from 2010 to 2016, we find there is an observable relationship between climate and support for legalization, indicating that when climate attributes are favorable for cultivation, support for these measures increase. Our findings suggest that climate context is an important, and previously unspecified, factor for ballot measures with a climatic component.
Hand in the Pot Cookie Jar: Does Employee Substance Abuse Predict Fraud?
Melanie Millar, Roger White & Xin Zheng
Baylor University Working Paper, March 2018
Abstract:
Motivated by survey evidence, we examine the relation between employee substance abuse and workplace fraud. In our sample of white-collar professionals, the one percent of employees struggling with documented substance abuse problems are responsible for more than fifteen percent of workplace frauds. Employees with a history of past substance abuse are twice as likely to commit fraud as their sober colleagues, and employees with ongoing substance abuse problems in a given year are about eighty times more likely to commit fraud relative to their peers. These results are consistent with prior research that suggests that drug users have economic incentives and impaired neural functioning that make committing fraud seem more beneficial. We also find that this increased likelihood to commit fraud is exacerbated in employees with long-term substance abuse problems and is entirely mitigated by sustained sobriety. This study has implications for employers and policymakers as they consider both how to prevent fraud and how to reduce the negative impact of substance abuse in the workplace through internal control systems and practices like Employee Assistance Programs.
The Effect of Parental Education on Children's Drug and Alcohol Use
Aaron Chalfin & Monica Deza
American Economic Review, May 2018, Pages 373-378
Abstract:
This research is the first to uncover evidence of an intergenerational effect of education on substance use in the United States. Using data from the NLSY79 and variation in education induced by changes in compulsory schooling laws, we study the effect of parental education on children's use of drugs and alcohol. We find that an increase in parental education decreases alcohol consumption - binge drinking, in particular - and has no effect on marijuana consumption among youth. Given the high social costs associated with alcohol abuse, we conclude that previous research on education may appreciably underestimate the benefits of investments in education.
Market concentration in the international drug trade
Michael Golz & Daniel D'Amico
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, June 2018, Pages 28-42
Abstract:
This paper investigates the industrial organization of the international drug trade. From the mid 1970s through the early 2000s, a few large-scale and hierarchically organized cartels dominated the market. Since 2006, dozens of smaller and more-specialized units have emerged. We notice that the prohibition efforts of federal governments (primarily Mexico and the U.S.) imposed costs asymmetrically across differently sized drug trafficking organizations (DTOs). Under president Calderon (office held from 2006-2012), efforts were arranged as “kingpin” or “decapitation” strategies and were primarily focused on arresting key leaders of the largest and most infamous operations. This asymmetric enforcement structure evoked unique strategic responses from differently sized DTOs. Larger DTOs splintered into smaller units. Smaller outfits remained small and sought more specialized roles in the more decentralized and competitive supply chain. Furthermore, we argue that subsequent changes in operating costs amidst this less concentrated environment, tended to exaggerate the asymmetric cost structure across differently sized DTOs. Larger DTOs in a more competitive illicit market cannot exploit economies of scale to maintain internal coordination and loyalty as easily as they once could with fewer rival DTOs. In result, the seemingly persistent industrial organization of the international drug trade has remained less concentrated than in previous decades.
Effects of cannabis on eyewitness memory: A field study
Annelies Vredeveldt et al.
Applied Cognitive Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Eyewitnesses to crimes are regularly under the influence of drugs, such as cannabis. Yet there is very little research on how the use of cannabis affects eyewitness memory. In the present study, we assessed the effects of cannabis on eyewitness recall and lineup identification performance in a field setting. One hundred twenty visitors of coffee shops in Amsterdam viewed a videotaped criminal event, were interviewed about the event, and viewed a target‐present or target‐absent lineup. Witnesses under the influence of cannabis remembered significantly fewer correct details about the witnessed event than did sober witnesses, with no difference in incorrect recall. Cannabis use was not significantly associated with lineup identification performance, but intoxicated witnesses were significantly better at judging whether their lineup identification was accurate. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
Impact of Medicaid Expansion on Access to Opioid Analgesic Medications and Medication-Assisted Treatment
Alana Sharp et al.
American Journal of Public Health, May 2018, Pages 642-648
Methods: Using Medicaid enrollment and reimbursement data from 2011 to 2016 in all states, we evaluated prescribing patterns of opioids and the 3 Food and Drug Administration-approved medications used in treating opioid use disorders by using 2 statistical models. We used difference-in-differences and interrupted time series models to measure prescribing rates before and after state expansions.
Results: Although opioid prescribing per Medicaid enrollee increased overall, we observed no statistical difference between expansion and nonexpansion states. By contrast, per-enrollee rates of buprenorphine and naltrexone prescribing increased more than 200% after states expanded eligibility, while increasing by less than 50% in states that did not expand. Methadone prescribing decreased in all states in this period, with larger decreases in expansion states.
Coverage of Medications That Treat Opioid Use Disorder and Opioids for Pain Management in Marketplace Plans, 2017
Haiden Huskamp et al.
Medical Care, June 2018, Pages 505-509
Research Design: We identified a sample of 100 plans offered in urban and in rural counties on the 2017 Marketplaces, weighting by population. We accessed publicly available plan coverage information on healthcare.gov for states with a federally facilitated exchange, the state exchange website for state-based exchanges, and insurer websites.
Results: About 14% of plans do not cover any formulations of buprenorphine/naloxone. Plans were more likely to require prior authorization for any of the covered office-based buprenorphine or naltrexone formulations preferred for maintenance OUD treatment (ie, buprenorphine/naloxone, buprenorphine implants, injectable long-acting naltrexone) than of short-acting opioid pain medications (63.6% vs. 19.4%; P<0.0001). Only 10.6% of plans cover implantable buprenorphine, 26.1% cover injectable naltrexone, and 73.4% cover at least 1 abuse-deterrent opioid pain medication.
How the Reformulation of OxyContin Ignited the Heroin Epidemic
William Evans, Ethan Lieber & Patrick Power
NBER Working Paper, April 2018
Abstract:
We attribute the recent quadrupling of heroin death rates to the August, 2010 reformulation of an oft-abused prescription opioid, OxyContin. The new abuse-deterrent formulation led many consumers to substitute to an inexpensive alternative, heroin. Using structural break techniques and variation in substitution risk, we find that opioid consumption stops rising in August, 2010, heroin deaths begin climbing the following month, and growth in heroin deaths was greater in areas with greater pre-reformulation access to heroin and opioids. The reformulation did not generate a reduction in combined heroin and opioid mortality - each prevented opioid death was replaced with a heroin death.
Do Opioids Help Injured Workers Recover and Get Back to Work? The Impact of Opioid Prescriptions on Duration of Temporary Disability
Bogdan Savych, David Neumark & Randall Lea
NBER Working Paper, April 2018
Abstract:
We estimate the effect of opioid prescriptions on the duration of temporary disability benefits among workers with work-related low back injuries. We use local opioid prescribing patterns to construct an instrumental variable that generates variation in opioid prescriptions but is arguably unrelated to injury severity or other factors affecting disability duration. Local prescribing patterns have a strong relationship with whether injured workers receive opioid prescriptions, including longer-term prescriptions. We find that more longer-term opioid prescribing leads to considerably longer duration of temporary disability, but little effect of a small number of opioid prescriptions over a short period of time.
A path out: Prescription drug abuse, treatment, and suicide
Mark Borgschulte, Adriana Corredor-Waldron & Guillermo Marshall
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, May 2018, Pages 169-184
Abstract:
In this paper we investigate the dual role of supply restrictions and drug treatment in combating the concurrent rise of opioid abuse and suicide in the United States over the last two decades. We find that supply-side interventions decrease suicides in places with strong addiction-help networks, implying that prescription drug abuse is associated with an inherent risk of suicide. Our findings support an important role for access to treatment services in policies designed to combat the opioid epidemic.
Do young adults substitute cigarettes for alcohol? Learning from the Master Settlement Agreement
Vinish Shrestha
Review of Economics of the Household, June 2018, Pages 297-321
Abstract:
Although real alcohol prices have plummeted over the last two decades, cigarette prices have increased substantially, especially after the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) in 1998. I study the effect of increases in cigarette prices following the MSA on alcohol consumption among 18- to 24-year olds to determine the economic relationship between cigarettes and alcohol among young adults. I perform analyses at both the conditional mean and quantiles and find that increases in cigarette prices reduce drinking participation among young adults at the extensive margin. However, conditional upon one’s decision to drink, higher cigarette prices increase alcohol consumption. Such a pattern of substitution is concentrated between the 40th and 50th conditional quantiles. The results suggest that caution should be exercised when considering cigarettes and alcohol as complements.